Month: July 2019

Time-honored textile crafts of the various Chinese ethnic groups constitute an important part of the country’s rich cultural heritage. The techniques and patterns differ from region to region, and modern artists and researchers have made great efforts to collect, preserve and recreate them.

A display of more than 1,400 textile objects in Beijing is celebrating people’s endeavors in the revival of traditional handicraft, many of which are endangered skills.

Held at Yongyuan, a cultural compound transformed from an old, unused factory, the show runs through July 15 and brings together costumes, scarfs, tapestries and decorations that represent textile skills from across the country.

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Jade has long been a favored material for carving and decoration in Chinese creative works.

Now, more than 100 quality pieces of jade carving by masters and promising sculptors will go under the hammer at the spring sales of Beijing-based Boguan Auctions from July 12 to 14, and will feature not only Hetian nephrite jade from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region but also Shoushan stone from Fujian province.

One sale will be small or palm-sized objects which one can handle and play with, and bigger pieces too.

The artists whose works will be auctioned include prize winners at important jade-carving competitions at home, including the Tiangong Prize and Zigang Cup.

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The modern ballet Reborn, masterminded by designer Grace Chen, created a sensational experience for fashionistas and art lovers in Shanghai on Tuesday.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Grace Chen couture brand, the ballet integrated performing arts with a conventional fashion show. Focused on the theme of transformation and beauty, the designer joined hands with musician Chen Gang and ballerina Sisi Qiu.

It opened to the elegant rhythm of Butterfly Lovers (or Liang Zhu, which depicts a story like Romeo and Juliet). The ballet introduces a young girl who later grows up to be a beautiful and confident woman.

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LONDON — Frank Lampard has been confirmed as the replacement for Maurizio Sarri as the new coach for Chelsea after agreeing a three-year contract.

“I am immensely proud to be returning to Chelsea. Everyone knows my love for this club and the history we have shared, however, my sole focus is on the job in hand and preparing for the season ahead. I cannot wait to get started,” said Lampard on the Chelsea website.

The 41-year-old leaves Championship side Derby County, where he spent last year in charge to return to the south-London outfit where he spent 13 seasons, making a total of 648 appearances and scoring 211 goals.

During that period he helped Chelsea win three Premier League titles, the FA Cup on four occasions, the 2012 Champions League and the 2013 Europa League.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia said “It gives us great pleasure to welcome Frank back to Chelsea as head coach. Frank possesses fantastic knowledge and understanding of the club and last season, he demonstrated he is one of the most talented young coaches in the game.”

“After 13 years with us as a player, where he became a club legend and our record goal-scorer, we believe this is the perfect time for him to return and are delighted he has done so. We will do everything we can to ensure he has all the support required to be a huge success,” she added.

Lampard has been confirmed as coach following several days of talks with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, which are thought to have centered on how the club will cope under the effects of a FIFA transfer ban.

The ban was imposed for irregularities regarding the Chelsea youth system and means the club will not be able to make any signings until the summer of 2020.

Chelsea have added Christian Pulisic to their squad this summer, because he was signed from Borussia Dortmund in January and remained on loan with the German side until the end of the season, while Mateo Kovacic’s loan from Real Madrid has been made permanent, but the club has lost winger Eden Hazard who moved the other way to Madrid.

Meanwhile the club is expected to confirm in the near future that England internationals, Ruben Loftus Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi (both of whom are currently recovering from Achilles tendon injuries) have agreed new contracts.

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The FIFA president said the success of the 2019 edition could lead to an expansion for the next tournament in 2023

FIFA is considering expanding the next Women’s World Cup to 32 teams and doubling the prize money, president Gianni Infantino has said.

The FIFA Council, made up of 37 members, is due to vote on the host for the 2023 tournament next March.

There are already nine countries interested in bidding, including recent men’s World Cup hosts Brazil and South Africa.

Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea are also prospective hosts for the next women’s tournament but Infantino claims the process may have to be restarted to accomodate the potential larger field of teams. 

“We will need to act more quickly if we want to have 32 teams already in 2023,” Infantino said.

“We will discuss it as a matter of urgency and see if we can already decide to increase for 2023, in which case we should re-open the bidding process and allow everyone to have a chance to organise or maybe co-host for some of those who have been bidding already for a 24-team World Cup.”

There have already been a number of expansions in the World Cup’s short history. The event started with 12 teams in 1991 and grew to 16 in 1999 and then 24 in 2015. 

And the FIFA president says the success of the 2019 edition has proven there is a hunger for a larger tournament in the future. 

“Nothing is impossible and based on the success of this World Cup of course we have to believe bigger and to do what we should have done already probably some time ago,” Infantino added.

“But now we have the evidence to do it for women’s football.”

Infantino also has proposed creating a Club World Cup for women’s football, starting in 2020, citing the need to develop the game at the domestic level, which will trickle up to the international game. 

“I would like to propose a Club World Cup for women, starting as soon as possible,” Infantino said. “A real Club World Cup. We can only develop national football if we develop club football as well.

“It can be played every year to expose clubs all over the world. Clubs would invest even more in women’s football to shine on the world stage.”

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The 36-year-old will lead Brazil out in the Copa America final on home soil against Peru on Sunday

Former Manchester United and Brazil midfielder Kleberson says his old international teammate Dani Alves could be a hit at Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool after the full-back’s departure from Paris Saint-Germain.

Alves left the Ligue 1 champions last month after winning back-to-back titles during his two-year spell in the French capital.

The 36-year-old, who is set to skipper his country when they take on Peru in the Copa America final on Sunday, is yet to reveal what his next move will be in club football.

Kleberson, who won the World Cup with Brazil in Japan and South Korea in 2002, played alongside former Barcelona full-back Alves between 2006-10 for the Selecao.

And the retired midfielder, who finished his playing career with the Indy Eleven and Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL and now coaches with the Philadelphia Union academy in MLS, says while he had been keen for his old teammate to join him to see out the final years of his career in the United States, Alves could still be a significant player for the new European champions.

“I wanted to get Dani Alves to join me in the MLS,” said Kleberson. “He’s a phenomenal player with amazing quality. I feel maybe could fit in well at Liverpool and Klopp would like him as a style of player.

“He’s very technical, fast and has an incredible temperament in the big games. He’s a winner.”

Kleberson started three of Brazil’s games in their triumphant World Cup campaign in 2002, coming into the starting line-up for the 2-1 quarter-final win against England and retaining his place through to the final.

And his old side will take on Peru on Sunday for the chance to lift their first Copa America title since 2007.

“Brazil’s performances in the Copa America so far have been solid but not amazing,” said the 40-year-old. “The South American teams have improved over the last few years especially Venezuela with younger players.

“Brazil are not in a great moment for the national team, for me now there is a lot of change and quite a few young players coming through giving the coaching staff tough decisions to make.

“Brazil are playing well but they are doing just about enough. We have some performances where we are like ‘wow’ against Peru where we won 5-0.

“But we aren’t playing well consistently enough. I want to see Brazil play against good teams like England and play amazing football with style and be proud of it.”

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Currently representing England in the Women’s World Cup, the player has confirmed she will not be returning to Catalunya for 2019-20

Toni Duggan has left FC Barcelona Femeni following two successful seasons with the club.

Duggan joined the Spanish side in 2017 and went on to play 72 games, scoring 29 goals in the process.

In 2018, she won the Copa de la Reina and the Copa Catalunya Femenina. During her time in Barcelona, she was twice a runner-up in the Primera Division Femenina and also the UEFA Women’s Champions League, last season.

Duggan said: “It was a dream come true to wear the famous colours of FC Barcelona. To represent one of the biggest and most special clubs in the world has been a huge honour – but I feel the time is right for me to pursue a new challenge.

“Together with my teammates and, of course, the wonderful supporters, I was able to win two trophies and enjoy many other memorable moments.

“A great many people have helped me over the last two years and I want to thank them all – you will always be in my heart.

“Força Barça!”

Born in Liverpool, the 27-year-old striker began her career at Everton before moving to Manchester City in 2013. 

There she lifted the Women’s Superleague in 2016 and two FA Cups, with her goalscoring prowess soon earning her a move to Barca.

Duggan has been part of the England Women’s 2019 World Cup squad and has made three appearances in the competition so far. Her next club move will be announced in due course.
 

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The American top flight needs to build off the success of the U.S. or risk losing ground to European upstarts

The U.S. women’s national team is in the spotlight. As they get set to play their third straight World Cup final on Sunday, the nation’s attention will be squarely focused on Lyon.

When that game against the Netherlands ends, win or lose, all 23 American players will eventually return back to where they came from: the National Women’s Soccer League. 

Now in its seventh season, the fact that the NWSL still exists is a win for the women’s game in the United States, with past leagues having folded much sooner. But for the future of the U.S. national team, and American women’s soccer in general, the league needs to strengthen.

“As much as we love being in this environment,” USWNT defender Tierna Davidson says, “it is the NWSL environment that we’re in most of the time, and if that didn’t exist we wouldn’t be able to be where we are today.”

There is always optimism that an increased focus on the U.S. national team will translate to more attention on the domestic league where all of its players ply their trade.

“Hopefully it brings more exposure to the league and people will be more excited and willing to come out to the games,” U.S. midfielder Rose Lavelle said.

But initial bumps usually fade, and there are doubts as to whether the NWSL is in the right place to take advantage of the increased attention on the women’s game in the United States.

The league has only has one sponsor committed beyond the current season, Nike. It has recently lost multiple key front-office employees, saw two teams fold prior to the 2018 season (one of those teams, FC Kansas City, did have its players transferred to the expansion Utah Royals) and until this week, it had been playing the 2019 season without a national television deal.

“I was pretty annoyed that we didn’t have a deal at the beginning of the year,” U.S. midfielder Lindsey Horan said. “It almost felt like we were going backwards.”

Thankfully, that situation was remedied by ESPN’s announcement on Thursday that it would be televising 14 matches through the rest of the 2019 season. Beyond this season, though, everything is up in the air.

“I think this should have come a while ago,” Horan said of the TV deal, “but I’m very happy that it did.”

Horan, the league’s 2018 MVP, plays for the NWSL’s model franchise, the Portland Thorns, who averaged 16,959 fans per game in 2018, dwarfing the league average of 6,017.

Still, NWSL saw the highest average attendance in its history in 2018, in part due to the expansion Utah Royals averaging 9,466 fans per game. 

With only nine teams in the league and potentially fruitful markets like Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Atlanta and others reportedly interested in joining the league, expansion may be the key to NWSL success in the future.

“We have nine teams now and I hope we have expansion in the next year or so,” Horan said. “I think that will help so much.”

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The league will need a boost as competition from Europe increases. Seven of the eight World Cup quarterfinalists were from Europe this year, as more clubs and federations continue to invest in the women’s game.

Should the NWSL not find more deep-pocketed owners willing to invest, the league, and by extension the U.S. national team, will start to fall behind. 

“To have more publicity and more funding for [NWSL] is just so incredibly important,” Davidson said. “To think that this team is completely separate from the NWSL is not realistic. We are very much a product of the environment that we’re in.”

In the meantime, though, the return of USWNT stars, along with 35 other players from 10 different countries who also participated in the World Cup, should provide a temporary boost at least.

“It’s our job to get back in there and do what we do and continue to inspire the next generation, to continue to help the league grow, and that’s what we’ll be doing,” U.S. forward Carli Lloyd said.

The increased interest will be there at first. Whether the league can capitalize over the long term is another question entirely. 

LYON, France – Thanks to Jackie Groenen’s extra-time goal, the European champions Netherlands came out the biggest surprise-pack in this World Cup, beating four-time semifinalists Sweden 1-0 on Wednesday.

Running onto a loose ball just outside the box, the Frankfurt playmaker launched a right-footed strike and just saw the ball flying across the Swedish goalie Hedvig Lindahl and into the goal’s bottom left corner on 99 minutes.

“I just saw a good angle. We’ve talked about it for a couple of weeks that I need to take shots more often. The ball just came really nicely and I thought, ‘let’s do this,'” Groenen said after the game.

With the 120-minute victory, Sarina Wiegman’s team set up a final showdown with defending champions United States, also here in the stade de Lyon on Sunday. As for Sweden, they will play England in the third-place match in Nice on Saturday.

“It’s the whole development in the Netherlands and also the individuals that made bigger steps,” said Wiegman. “They are very experienced now, and they believe they can perform well.”

“Belief is also one of the things that made it happen,” she added.

“We’re playing a very skilled team. That’s what happened,” commented Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson at a post-match press conference.

“Now it’s about the medal. Ending up third of course feels a lot better than ending up fourth. We’ll do everything in our power to try to do that,” he added.

The sports-entertainment crossover has become a very popular marketing ploy to promote brand expansion, and for the most part the concept has been enormously successful.

One such example is Major League Baseball’s “MLB Perfect Pitch 2019 Hip-Hop Challenge”, which launched on June 28, attracting massive attention among China’s younger generation by integrating the cultural elements of baseball and hip-hop.

“MLB Perfect Pitch 2019 Hip-Hop Challenge” was made possible by the enthusiastic efforts of fans of Viho Yang Wenhao, China’s most popular hip-hop dancer. On the Douyin video platform, Viho invited users to imitate his baseball-inspired moves, creating the nation’s first MLB-authorized baseball+hip-hop event.

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